Electrospun preparation of polylactic acid nanoporous fiber membranes via thermal-nonsolvent induced phase separation

•Fiber membranes with nanoporous structures were obtained via thermal-nonsolvent induced phase separation.•PLLA nanoporous fiber membranes were prepared by electrospinning a single solvent system.•A water bath was used to obtain the PLLA nanoporous fiber membranes regardless of humidity.•This kind of PLLA nanoporous fiber membranes possessed high specific surface area and water flux.•The nanopore structures endow membranes excellent performance in oil adsorption and organic dye filtration.

A novel polylactic acid (PLLA) fiber membrane with nanoporous structures has been successfully developed via thermal-nonsolvent induced a phase separation technique by electrospinning a single solvent system of PLLA/dichloromethane. A water bath receiver was necessary for preparing the nanoporous fiber membranes in this paper. The results showed that the nanoporous fiber membranes could be obtained within a wide range of humidity. Compared with non-porous PLLA fiber membranes, the nanoporous fiber membranes displayed significantly improved specific surface area (improved about 20%) and rejection ratio (about 3 times) toward methylene blue. Besides, the PLLA nanoporous fiber membranes showed a water flux up to 4836.6 L m−2 h−1, increased by 25% than that of the non-porous fiber membranes. In addition, the oil adsorption capacity of the PLLA nanoporous fiber membranes could reach 26.8 g g−1. The new developed PLLA nanoporous fiber membranes via thermal-nonsolvent induced phase separation technique would demonstrate an impressive prospect for oil adsorption and organic dye filtration.

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